KARACHI: The official weekly foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fell by $157 million to $7.44 billion by week ended October 21, 2022, the central bank said on Thursday.
The official foreign exchange reserves of the SBP were at $7.597 billion a week ago i.e. October 14, 2022.
READ MORE: Pakistan’s weekly forex reserves increase nominally
The central bank attributed the decline to external debt repayments.
SBP however said it h ad received $1.5 billion from Asian Development Bank (ADB) in value on October 26, 2022 as disbursement of loan for the Government of Pakistan. These proceeds will be reflected in SBP reserves for the week ending October 28, 2022.
READ MORE: Pakistan’s forex reserves continue to fall; deplete to $13.25 billion
The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank witnessed a record high at $20.146 billion by week ended August 27, 2021. Since then the official reserves of the SBP dropped by $12.706 billion.
Previously, the central bank received $1.16 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program, which increased the official reserves to $8.8 billion. But scheduled repayment gradually depleted the official reserves of the central bank.
READ MORE: Pakistan’s forex reserves decline to $13.59 billion
The total foreign exchange reserves of the country fell by $89 million to $13.162 billion by week ended October 21, 2022 as compared with $13.251 billion a week ago.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves hit all-time high of $27.228 billion on August 27, 2021. Since then the foreign exchange reserves have declined by $14.066 billion.
The foreign exchange held by commercial banks witnessed an increase of $68 million to $5.722 billion by week ended October 21, 2022 as against $5.654 billion a week ago.
